Ch 7: Started out blowing things up, ending it by blowing things up

The resistance was pushed back, and a doctor was quickly called onto the scene. He confirmed that if Marco hadn't taken the bullet out, they would've needed to perform surgery. He agreed to travel with the royal family to make sure Star was fine. That meant he would be taking the seat of the guard on the royal family's carriage. Marco was given a seat in his own carriage, it was his prize for saving Star until Queen Moon could get something better.

As they left the battlefield, Marco looked out of the window. Officials talking with Mewman soldiers about the battle. Getting an idea of what happened. He felt conflicted. Yes, he managed to save Star, but he had to go against the french resistance and take the side of germany. It was all for the sake of destroying said germans of course, but as he entered his carriage his prize tasted bitter.

They quickly left. It was morning by the time they continued their travel. Nice vintage buildings, the smell of various foods being baked, and some people out on the streets for a change. As they rode deeper into the city more and more people appeared, until he finally saw their destination.

A large garrison building. From an eagle eye's view it had a U shape, with a large outdoors area in the center which brought in supplies. They rode into this central area, and Marco got out.

Scanning the area he saw the Queen talking to someone in uniform. Star was next to them, using a crutch in one of her arms.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay for one day more? The french cuisine is exquisite!" The man had a thick accent.

The Queen quickly rejected him. "No, I think we all just want to go home now. Mr… what was it?"

"SS-und Polizeiführer Heinrich Boehmer."

"...Boehmer."

"Well, that's a shame. I really can't convince-"

"Polizeiführer!" A soldier came up to Boehmer "Die Maschine ist kaputt!"

"Was?" He seemed distressed, almost taken aback.

"Der Dilatator explodierte, wir können bis zum Nachmittag einen Ersatz bekommen!"

"Ok." He turned to the Queen "The Dimensional Machine is inoperative. You cannot leave."

"Hm. Guess we will sample the cuisine."

Star's eyes lit up "We can actually do something fun?"

"Sure, this day can be a mini vacation."

"Yay!"

The Queen and King went back into the carriage. Star stayed back as Marco approached her.

"Wish you could come with us."

"We'll make it up in Mewni."

"Promise?"

"If i'm not with you then something bad happened." Marco reassured her.

Star smiled "Alright. I'm trusting you." She threw away her crutch and jumped into the carriage.

Before the carriage left, Boehmer shouted to them from the ground "By the time you get back the machine will be fixed, but before you leave would you like to see the machine itself-"

"No." They rode off.

"Bah, no-one ever wants to see the machine. Hurensohn."

"Mr. Boehmer?" Marco said.

"It's Polizeiführer Boehmer."

"Police Fuhrer Boehmer. What's the machine you're talking about?"

"You're interested?" He changed his tone "You want to know about the dimensional machine?"

"If the Mewmans can't return to their home without it, I assume the machine is a sort of portal?"

"Follow me, it's better to see it for yourself."

Marco was led into the building. It was fancy, with a tall ceiling, warm lights, carpeted floors, and rosy décor. He was led to a secluded corner, and to a sealed locked door. They were stopped by two security guards.

"Halt!" One of them stepped forwards "Polizeiführer, Wer ist das mit dir?" The guard pointed at Marco while talking to Boehmer.

"Er ist bei mir. Lass ihn durch." Boehmer said.

"Nein. Befehle vom Befehl." The guard approached Marco "Heben Sie Ihre Hände"

"...What?"

"Es ist mit dem Mewmans… Raise your hands."

Marco did so. He raised both his hands, not knowing what for. Then the guard started patting him down.

He patted from his arms, down to his chest. To his sleeve, then down to his stomach. Then, as he was checking the sides of Marco's waist, he felt something. The time machine.

The guard pulled it out. "What is that?"

"It's… a clock."

"It looks too big and complicated to just be a clock."

"Just turn those knobs, it'll adjust the time."

Slowly, the guard turned one of the knobs. "Hm… Ok. We will keep it, until you leave this place."

They were let in. The door opened to a set of stairs that led deeper and deeper underground. It was different from the main building, with cold white light and pure concrete stairs. Eventually, they found another set of doors. This time without any guards. Boehmer struggled with unlocking it.

"This door is particularly frustrating, sometimes it seems the keyhole won't accept the key…"

When Boehmer finally opened it, Marco saw a large machine. It was the size of a building, and people were surrounding it poking and prodding at whatever mechanical innards were exposed. There were pipes leading in and out of it, lining the walls.

"Sorry that there's so many people here. If it wasn't broken there would normally be one or two technicians. Even empty depending on the hour."

"What is it?"

"That is the machine that lets dimensional scissors access earth." He led Marco to a glass case, with a blade inside. "Here's a fragment of dimensional scissors." He pushed a button in front of it. The blade slowly whirred downward, tearing a hole in the air.

"What's it doing?"

"Creating a portal to Mewni." The portal stopped being formed after opening an inch, even though the blade was still moving. "Earth wasn't supposed to be able to access other dimensions for many years. This machine lets us ignore that in the small area that is this building."

"It's a small portal."

"That's the problem. But all it needs is a new coupler. Thank god. If the chassis itself was damaged we would have no idea how to fix it." Boehmer turned his attention back to the machine itself "A marvel of technology, isn't it?"

"...It sounds like you shouldn't be sharing this."

"Ah, but those who show interest in this are so rare!"

"Hm. Well, that was interesting. But i'll have to get going now. Gotta wait for the Royal family."

"Farewell. I'm just happy I could share this… great machine." He was still fixated on it.

Marco returned to the central area, his time machine reclaimed, looking for something. Many crates were stacked and scattered about, but Marco had his sights set on something in particular. He started looking through said crates. And Marco found it.

'EXPLOSIV!' The crate before him read. He smiled. Finally, he had a solid plan. He would blow the dimensional machine up, cutting off any communication between Mewni and Earth. More importantly, cutting off Germany.

He would have to do it under the cover of night, as he was surrounded by soldiers. So he picked a spot, sat down, and waited. The boredom got to him and he fell asleep.

He awoke to a commotion. The Butterflys had returned from their trip, and their entourage had people waving goodbye to earth in general.

He looked at the royal carriage. He felt bad about breaking a promise to Star, but what was a broken promise to the fate of the world? The machine was fixed as someone cut a portal into the air big enough for the carriages. As they left, Marco never took his eyes off the royal carriage. Up until the carriage disappeared into the portal. Even then, he looked at the portal until everyone had gone into it and the portal closed.

He didn't sleep after that. He waited until the moon was above him, and all traces of the sun had been replaced by inky darkness. When street lights were turning on, and nobody was around him, that was when he went for the bombs.

Opening them, there was barely any packaging. It was chock full with dynamite, with one detonator attached to all of them. He took them out, then got another crate. In the new crate were parcels of food. He replaced the food with the bombs, put the lid back on, and took that crate into the building. A disguise.

The guards were absent. Back into the basement, and Boehmer was right. As it was fixed, no one was there. Marco started to stick explosives into whatever fuze boxes or unscrewable panels that were scattered on it.

Halfway through all the bombs being stuck onto the machine, Marco heard the door open. It was Boehmer.

Boehmer dropped his croissant, and there was a shocked silence. Then Boehmer broke it. "Du Hurensohn!" He took out a pistol and started shooting. In his blind rage, he missed every single shot. Boehmer ran off, but Marco knew he'd be back.

He rushed. Tossing sticks of dynamite under the machine, hoping that he could knock out the supports and have it crush under its own weight.

Finally, he ran out of bombs. He took out his time machine and started turning knobs. He would detonate the bombs from a safe distance, then time travel to his own time to escape.

Then he noticed something odd. The screen wasn't lighting up. He hit the side of it like a remote. A charging cable was ejected out and hit him in the face.

He started to panic. He was betting on that, he didn't make a backup escape plan because he was confident.

Then, he felt the presence of someone else behind him. He started to raise his hands up, then he heard who it was.

"Marco?"

He turned around "Star! Why're you here!? How'd you get here!? How'd you get behind me!?"

"I went back to look for you."

"That's nice but-"

"Doesn't look like anything bad happened." She crossed her arms.

Marco reached his hand out "Star…"

"I want a reason." She said.

"Because-" Marco heard footsteps above him. It was a group, guards. "We don't have time. You need to get out."

Star heard it to "So you are in trouble!" She smiled "So, what've you gotten yourself into-"

"You need to get outta here!" Marco held his hand over the detonator's plunger.

She stepped back "Ok! Ok!" She quickly made a portal.

Marco could hear the shouting of guards getting closer. "Come on, hurry!"

Star took a step into the portal. Then she turned back "How're you gonna get out of here?"

"I'll… It doesn't matter. All that matters is that I blow this thing up."

"You can come through this portal with me and-"

The door knob started to turn. Marco could hear their voices, clear as day "We don't have time!"

Marco pushed her through. Almost on cue, the door was broken open.

"Halt!" He heard a guard shout. "Turn around slowly!"

And he did so. Portal at his back, and guards at the door pointing guns at him, he only saw one way out. He started walking backwards.

"Halt!" With Marco only a foot or two away from the portal, they fired a warning shot. That froze him. The guards started to move forward.

He could've gone with the safe option. He could've just given up, and let history stay on it's new course. But he didn't go on this journey to give up at the finish line. He made a promise to himself at the start of all this. He was to correct time. Perhaps fulfilling that promise could redeem his broken promise to Star.

"Star…" he thought. He couldn't jump backwards, that would take too long and he would be shot. But he had someone who could help.

"Star! Pull me in!" He jumped backwards, putting full faith in her.

Star leaned out of the portal and pulled Marco into it. A flurry of shots came at him, but he was long gone by the time they reacted.

They had collapsed into each other since Star used all her strength to pull him in. Marco pushed the detonator, and a deafening explosive roar followed. Then it suddenly stopped midway through, like hitting pause on a video.

He pried open one eye. Then another. He stood up, as did Star. The detonator had it's wire cut off.

"Star, try and make a portal to Earth."

She took out her scissors and cut the air. Nothing appeared.

"I… I did it!" Marco laughed. It was over, he won. "Star, you saved my life pulling me in!"

"Guess we're even. But why'd you blow that up!?" Star crossed her arms yet again. "You've got some explaining to do!"

"Don't worry i'll tell you all you want to know."

"When?"

"Hm… how about you show me some cool places?"

THE END